Edmonton meets host in tie-breaker

Edmonton Oil Kings Mark Pysyk knocks down Shawinigan Cataractes Peter Sakaris during the first period action of the Memorial Cup at the Boinest Center in Shawinigan Friday. The two teams meet in Thursday's tie-breaker
Didier Debusschere, QMI Agency

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Like a couple of vultures, general manager Bob Green and coach Derek Laxdal came to the rink Wednesday night to watch the Shawinigan Cataractes and Saint John Sea Dogs, cheering for carnage.

Their Edmonton Oil Kings meet the loser Thursday in the tie-breaker.

They came to cheer for overtime. Lots of it. And the worse the ice, the better.

They didn’t get it, but close enough as the Cataractes were taken through the grinder in a tough, physical 4-1 loss to the Sea Dogs.

The game will likely result in a suspension to Cataractes’ centre Michael Chaput.

It finished with two fights and a brief brawl at the end of the game, which concluded with coach Eric Veilleux climbing the glass between the two players benches.

If you wanted an energy-draining game involving the team you were going to play in the go-on or go-home game Thursday, this one was good enough.

“It was a pretty intense game from start to finish,” said Laxdal. “Those two teams battled all year. It was emotional.”

The first time the Oil Kings played the Cataractes, to open the tournament, the Memorial Cup host team hadn’t played in 31 days. Edmonton won 3-2.

This time, the Oil Kings get them after they played the night before. Advantage Edmonton again?

There’s hope in there somewhere.

“It’s really shown that the team playing the second game has really struggled for energy,” said Laxdal of the second game scenario on this Dallas Reunion Arena-like ice.

London lost 6-2 to Shawinigan when they tried it and Edmonton was defeated 4-1 by London when they did it.

“We’ve gone through it. London’s gone through it. Now they’re going to go through it. But we’re not going to worry about what they have to deal with, we want to focus on our game. It’s all about the Edmonton Oil Kings. We need to bring passion to this game, and not just a handful of guys, all 18 guys,” said Laxdal as he left the building.

If Shawinigan had won, the Cataractes would have advanced to Sunday’s final. To lose this one, after expiring early in the QMJHL playoffs, makes you wonder how fragile they might be in Thursday’s tie-breaker game.

But the big question is how they’ll handle playing their second game on consecutive days.

“We’ve been preaching about our conditioning the whole tournament,” said Veilleux. “There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll be back.”

While the Oil Kings face a daunting enough task of having to win three games in four days to become Memorial Cup champions, Shawinigan would be playing their fourth game in five days if they made it. And that would include three games in three days, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

After the round robin, what we’re left with is essentially the climb-the-ladder Pro Bowling Tour playoff format.

Edmonton versus Shawinigan Thursday.

Winner plays Saint John Friday.

Winner plays London Sunday.

Edmonton-Shawinigan will be the 10th tie-breaker game in the 30-year history of the tournament. Only two teams have advanced to the final and only Taylor Hall and the 2009 Windsor Spitfires have won it.

To Green, the problem with his hockey team at the Memorial Cup is they still haven’t got past Game 7.

“I think we hit our emotional peak winning Game 7 and the WHL championship,” said the Oil Kings GM. “When you win Game 7 of a championship series, that’s pretty good. I don’t know if it can get any better than that.

“We have to find it again. We have to come to the rink and rediscover that emotional peak again. This is the Memorial Cup. Opportunities like this don’t come along this often.”

Maybe the combination of circumstances can take them back to the emotional peak they reached to send the Portland Winterhawks home as Edmonton again faces what could be their final game of the season.

“All I know is that the team was really disappointed after the London loss. We just need to win the next one, get a little confidence back, find that emotion we had in Game 7 and go from there.”

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After the odd game or the occasional stretch like the recent Arizona-Arizona-Toronto, 899,447 Edmontonians, and half as many again in surrounding communities, run around shouting ‘The Sky Is Falling! The Sky is Falling!’